Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Last Friday, less than a week before his death, James Gandolfini met with screenwriter Pat Healy, with whom he was working on an HBO movie.

Healy said on Thursday he was shocked to hear that Gandolfini had died of an apparent heart attack in Italy at the age of 51. He tells ABC News Radio the actor "seemed slimmer" than he had seen him, and thought he "looked good...looked very healthy."

Healy says Gandolfini had been in "good spirits" and had been looking forward to spending time in Italy with his son.

Healy adds, "I know he was really proud of his son who graduated junior high, and had done really well with his soccer team. He talked about that a lot."

Gandolfini was on vacation in Rome with his son, Michael, at the time of his death.

Gandolfini and Healy were working on an HBO movie titled Eating with the Enemy, focusing on the tension between the U.S. and North Korean governments.

Gandolfini was also attached to a seven-part HBO drama series, Criminal Justice.